Biden is getting a whole lot of work done before his end of term. It is not his place to solve the infighting of the Republicans! You might want to watch his interview with Ben at Meidas Touch!
Understood. I have had nothing but respect for Biden. I’m feeling frustrated about his lack of calling out Trump. Not expecting him to solve any Republican infighting!
Trump is making lots of noise, burning up lots of political capita – and still not getting what he wants (for Congress to raise or suspend the debt ceiling). As Simon points out, a month before he is to be inaugurated,Trump has ended any chance of the "honeymoon" that new presidents are traditionally afforded.
While Trump is thoroughly humiliating and weakening himself, President Biden is wisely staying out of the way and instead governing. This might not generate headlines – it should! – but it really, really matters. Although most Americans are oblivious to it, the list of what Biden is getting done in these final months is very long.
It's worth noting that the National Mall is run by the National Park Service, so if there's a government shutdown, The Mall would be closed, too. Nice work, President-Elect Elonald [thanks, Jimmy Fallon].
Trump has greatly overestimated House Republicans’ fealty for him, and likewise the Senate’s. Trump’s interference at the 12th hour with a done deal is nothing short of astonishing political malpractice.
The bipartisan budget deal was all ready to be approved, with all indications it would sail smoothly through both House and Senate approval – until President Musk unexpectedly launched a massive Xitter attack on it. Finally, Co-President Trump also weighed in, rejecting the deal that had been carefully negotiated. Moreover, he astonished many Republican lawmakers by voicing a completely new demand: that Congress suspend the Debt Ceiling.
However, yesterday, a stunning 38 Republicans broke with the clearly expressed wishes of President-Elect Trump and Speaker Johnson. By comparison, only three Democrats failed to vote with their party leader. (Kathy Castor (FL-14) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) voted Yes, while Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) voted Present.)
And yet, after this stinging defeat and with no discernible path forward, Speaker Mike Johnson still refuses to open a line of negotiation with Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrats!
To no avail, Trump has burned a huge amount of political capital – decisively weakening himself one month before inauguration. He can forget about the customary 100-day "honeymoon" that new presidents enjoy.
They don't. This is what R's understand and enough D leaders don't seem to process. People don't know any of this unless you tell them loudly and often. I'm willing to bet a fair amount of money that more than half the "young people" that voted for Trump didn't know he was convicted on 34 counts of fraud, and was found liable for sexual assault. D's assumed everyone knew, but they didn't. This is not a rational, informed electorate.
I think many folx will feel a lot of regret for voting for DT when they find out what its going to mean in their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Do I have compassion about any regret they might have about their vote...? Gotta say, no not so much.
Q. WHY does Trump want to suspend the Debt Ceiling?
A. For one reason, and one reason only – to be able to grant new massive tax reductions to his donor base: corporations and America’s very wealthy. And to do so by exploding the budget deficits and having America take on new massive loans!
During his first term, Trump accrued 25% of the nation’s debt, much of it due to tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy – unsupported tax cuts that had to be financed by loans!
That is the ONLY reason Trump wants to get rid of the Debt Ceiling. Not for all time, mind you, but to *suspend* it only during his own presidency.
The "Freedom" crowd is pathologically unable to understand economics. This deja vu all over again. Reagan was going to abolish agencies, privatize everything. Raised the debt, deficit. First act as president was to cut the disabled from the Social Security rolls without giving them a right to a hearing.
50% of the stuff they complain about comes from trust funds and is not even part of the budget. Social Security, Medicare, etc.
Yes, and removing the debt ceiling, which I actually agree with, gets rid of the biggest bargaining chip the minority has in the budget process. It makes everything easier for Trump regarding budget. Which is a scary thought.
Especially since Democrats can take full advantage of the very significant chunk of the Republican House caucus that is completely opposed to doing away with the Debt Ceiling and allowing runaway budgets and deficits.
Democrats might even be able to use that to prevent or greatly reduce the overly-outrageous tax cuts for the super-wealthy and for corporations that are planned by Trump.
And the Middle Class would bear the burden of the debt ceiling being suspended! trump is a lame duck and doesn't care what pain he causes to working class people!
I agree with all of this. Here's what is essential-- no one cares unless we make them care. This is how R's operate. No one gives a damn about "critical race theory" or prisoner sex reassignment, unless you make them care about it.
Many people who voted for Trump, especially younger voters, are probably thinking "this is good. We need to break up the status quo". I.e., reinforcing why they voted for him-- their view of him and Elon as disruptors to bad, corrupt system. We CANNOT let them define the battle. If we do, they'll actually come out of this smelling like roses.
We have to make them care that this is corruption at its core-- a oligarch who bought his way into power and is using it to tilt everything toward only what he cares about.
It would be helpful if all of you on Substack would get together and lay out a comprehensive plan of something we can do to resist the musk trump agenda. Instead of everyone suggesting different ideas, something we all do together. Such as: on January 20 turn off all media. February 2 send a postcard to your representative about reforming the insurance industry. We can still do other things, but a coordinated response is needed now.
Might be helpful, but I think unlikely, Dorrie. I've wondered about all these groups doing good work a number of times, myself, but that's kind of how grassroots democracy works. Let's try to encourage coordination and alliances where they can work, but I think a completely lockstep action is probably not going to draw support, and might not even be a good idea.
We’ve got plenty of hometown community work to continue bolstering. Volunteerism will get us through the long winter. Building cooperative grant writing and community organized /supported safety nets .
"Do You Know Someone in a Cult? 🔸️Evaluate any group now with Dr. Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control." 🔸️The BITE test finds out if any group is helpful or harmful, honest or dishonest, healthy or unhealthy.
I love how the GOP is all about fiscal discipline, running the budget like a household's, cutting spending...except when they take power. And now the debt ceiling to be abolished. It's a Trump fantasy for himself. I have concluded he takes glee in doing in the country's power, prestige, and even pure functionality because otherwise it remains greater than him, and he can't have that. No entity can be superior to him. I also feel like he's going to sniff around for ways to literally direct Treasury funds to his accounts. Beyond the hotel income of yesteryear.
It is important to get the message out that shutting down the government costs money, it does not save money, not to mention causing a lot of chaos and hurt. Most people probably do not know this.
The same people, for example some of my fellow NCers, who had/have no clue that the tax funds Rs want to send to Charter schools depletes public school funding! Duh.
D's have to toss the rational-informed electorate model. It seems too many Dem leaders and spokespeople think the people just know all of this.
There was a viral Tweet of a woman voter sometime before Biden dropped out who wasn't going to vote for Biden because she thought he was responsible for overturning Roe v Wade since it happened during his presidency.
This is the example of the electorate Dems need to accept and deal with.
This message did get through in Kentucky, where a measure for school vouchers was soundly defeated, including in very conservative counties, because people got the point that it would weaken funding for public schools, which in some cases are the linchpin for small towns.
It would be a very opportune time to also point out that Elon Musk's current fortune (which is hugely derived from Tesla stock) was possible only because of the government spending (grants/loans) and subsidies that he now wants to end for everyone else.
Exactly! I just learned about that myself from listening to Dateline Whitehouse tonight.. during the Obama administration, Tesla was floundering and received a 3 billion dollar subsidy (if I remember correctly). And he’s so fond of saying DEI stands for Didn’t Earn it! They are masters of projection.
And yet the first agreed-upon bill included research for childhood cancer, getting rid of junk fees, eliminating the middlemen who jack up pharmaceutical prices, and reimbursing food stamp recipients for stolen cards. All because of some mucking about by a billionaire.
The Orange Man doesn’t like bring upstaged by “Pres. Musk” so expect a de-throning soon…. And to top it all off, Musk is verifying his own Nazi proclivities! Oh my! How will Orange Man handle all this ?!😳 Let’s hope cooler heads will prevail to keep the gov’t open at Christmastime ( do we want air traffic controllers on “no pay” at this busy travel time??) chaos has started sgain!
There was a lot to say about yesterday. I am no fan of Republicans but was impressed that 38 stood up to Trump-Musk, even after threats. I feel as if Senators rarely do this sort of thing, despite more power. I hope the Senate considers similar push back with these nominees.
Writing from a red state, we must en-courage those who do the right thing and the independent thing and act like grown ups even when we disagree on some details. No one is served by legislators taking orders from the president or the Freedom Caucus.
Great slogan from Dana Millbank in today's WaPo: "Government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, for the billionaires." The party of Lincoln has become the party of Musk, et al. Ds should keep hammering this theme over and over and over.
YES!!! This is exactly the message. We need to spend less time defending institutions and instead attack Trump-Elon for being the paradigm of exactly WHY government has not been working for the people.
Simon, great appearance on CNN this morning, including describing how T has created a huge mess that's bad for the country and squandered his honeymoon before even taking office. It's time for everyone to be loud about this reckless incompetence and his attempt to blame Biden for this and whatever he comes up with going forward. Also, need to not let T take credit for the positive results of Biden's huge legislative accomplishments: infrastructure, inflation and CHIPs acts which will bear fruit well into the future unless derailed by the incoming administration.
I appreciated the MeidasTouch interview with Biden. Such a decent person with unshakable faith in the American people. I waver, but we do need to believe in ourselves long-term.
Quo vidas Biden? What about the 14th Amendment?
Biden seems to be fading and lost. His mild manner is so disappointing and even infuriating in this moment!
Biden is getting a whole lot of work done before his end of term. It is not his place to solve the infighting of the Republicans! You might want to watch his interview with Ben at Meidas Touch!
Understood. I have had nothing but respect for Biden. I’m feeling frustrated about his lack of calling out Trump. Not expecting him to solve any Republican infighting!
Susan, Dottie is absolutely right!
Trump is making lots of noise, burning up lots of political capita – and still not getting what he wants (for Congress to raise or suspend the debt ceiling). As Simon points out, a month before he is to be inaugurated,Trump has ended any chance of the "honeymoon" that new presidents are traditionally afforded.
While Trump is thoroughly humiliating and weakening himself, President Biden is wisely staying out of the way and instead governing. This might not generate headlines – it should! – but it really, really matters. Although most Americans are oblivious to it, the list of what Biden is getting done in these final months is very long.
It's worth noting that the National Mall is run by the National Park Service, so if there's a government shutdown, The Mall would be closed, too. Nice work, President-Elect Elonald [thanks, Jimmy Fallon].
TRUMP IS HUMILIATED AND WEAKENED
Trump has greatly overestimated House Republicans’ fealty for him, and likewise the Senate’s. Trump’s interference at the 12th hour with a done deal is nothing short of astonishing political malpractice.
The bipartisan budget deal was all ready to be approved, with all indications it would sail smoothly through both House and Senate approval – until President Musk unexpectedly launched a massive Xitter attack on it. Finally, Co-President Trump also weighed in, rejecting the deal that had been carefully negotiated. Moreover, he astonished many Republican lawmakers by voicing a completely new demand: that Congress suspend the Debt Ceiling.
However, yesterday, a stunning 38 Republicans broke with the clearly expressed wishes of President-Elect Trump and Speaker Johnson. By comparison, only three Democrats failed to vote with their party leader. (Kathy Castor (FL-14) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) voted Yes, while Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) voted Present.)
And yet, after this stinging defeat and with no discernible path forward, Speaker Mike Johnson still refuses to open a line of negotiation with Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrats!
To no avail, Trump has burned a huge amount of political capital – decisively weakening himself one month before inauguration. He can forget about the customary 100-day "honeymoon" that new presidents enjoy.
I’d say Trump is off to a very, very bad start!
Let’s just hope people have a shred of a brain left to place blame where it belongs.
They don't. This is what R's understand and enough D leaders don't seem to process. People don't know any of this unless you tell them loudly and often. I'm willing to bet a fair amount of money that more than half the "young people" that voted for Trump didn't know he was convicted on 34 counts of fraud, and was found liable for sexual assault. D's assumed everyone knew, but they didn't. This is not a rational, informed electorate.
I have a friend whose ex-husband voted for Trump, and he wasn't aware that Rs were seeking a national abortion ban!
I think many folx will feel a lot of regret for voting for DT when they find out what its going to mean in their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Do I have compassion about any regret they might have about their vote...? Gotta say, no not so much.
Sadly, I doubt most of them would even care.
They don't.
Q. WHY does Trump want to suspend the Debt Ceiling?
A. For one reason, and one reason only – to be able to grant new massive tax reductions to his donor base: corporations and America’s very wealthy. And to do so by exploding the budget deficits and having America take on new massive loans!
During his first term, Trump accrued 25% of the nation’s debt, much of it due to tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy – unsupported tax cuts that had to be financed by loans!
That is the ONLY reason Trump wants to get rid of the Debt Ceiling. Not for all time, mind you, but to *suspend* it only during his own presidency.
Yes. We know it. Now that info, and so much more, needs to get shouted from the rooftops.
“The validity of the public debt of the United States...shall not be questioned.”—14th Amendment, Section 4, U.S. Constitution.
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/11/23712477/supreme-court-debt-ceiling-fourteenth-amendment-unconstitutional-kevin-mccarthy-joe-biden
Yes, but there ought be be a law against using the US debt as a personal piggy bank for yourself and your oligarch friends and donors.
The "Freedom" crowd is pathologically unable to understand economics. This deja vu all over again. Reagan was going to abolish agencies, privatize everything. Raised the debt, deficit. First act as president was to cut the disabled from the Social Security rolls without giving them a right to a hearing.
50% of the stuff they complain about comes from trust funds and is not even part of the budget. Social Security, Medicare, etc.
Biden could, given the recent SCOTUS decisions, take it upon himself to issue executive orders. Could bargain with Congress. Even with Trump. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt14-S4-1/ALDE_00000849/
IMHO there aare a lot of other things that should be happening. I laid some of it out yesterday. Have we lost the Cold War?
Yes, and removing the debt ceiling, which I actually agree with, gets rid of the biggest bargaining chip the minority has in the budget process. It makes everything easier for Trump regarding budget. Which is a scary thought.
Especially since Democrats can take full advantage of the very significant chunk of the Republican House caucus that is completely opposed to doing away with the Debt Ceiling and allowing runaway budgets and deficits.
Democrats might even be able to use that to prevent or greatly reduce the overly-outrageous tax cuts for the super-wealthy and for corporations that are planned by Trump.
And the Middle Class would bear the burden of the debt ceiling being suspended! trump is a lame duck and doesn't care what pain he causes to working class people!
I can't bring myself to feel any compassion for those that voted for Trump but will suffer bc of his policies.
I agree with all of this. Here's what is essential-- no one cares unless we make them care. This is how R's operate. No one gives a damn about "critical race theory" or prisoner sex reassignment, unless you make them care about it.
Many people who voted for Trump, especially younger voters, are probably thinking "this is good. We need to break up the status quo". I.e., reinforcing why they voted for him-- their view of him and Elon as disruptors to bad, corrupt system. We CANNOT let them define the battle. If we do, they'll actually come out of this smelling like roses.
We have to make them care that this is corruption at its core-- a oligarch who bought his way into power and is using it to tilt everything toward only what he cares about.
It would be helpful if all of you on Substack would get together and lay out a comprehensive plan of something we can do to resist the musk trump agenda. Instead of everyone suggesting different ideas, something we all do together. Such as: on January 20 turn off all media. February 2 send a postcard to your representative about reforming the insurance industry. We can still do other things, but a coordinated response is needed now.
Might be helpful, but I think unlikely, Dorrie. I've wondered about all these groups doing good work a number of times, myself, but that's kind of how grassroots democracy works. Let's try to encourage coordination and alliances where they can work, but I think a completely lockstep action is probably not going to draw support, and might not even be a good idea.
Malcolm Nance has some great suggestions about that.
We’ve got plenty of hometown community work to continue bolstering. Volunteerism will get us through the long winter. Building cooperative grant writing and community organized /supported safety nets .
"Do You Know Someone in a Cult? 🔸️Evaluate any group now with Dr. Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control." 🔸️The BITE test finds out if any group is helpful or harmful, honest or dishonest, healthy or unhealthy.
https://bitemodel.com/
"Sentence Donald Trump to a Mandatory Psychiatric Examination - Political/Legal Maneuverings do Not Change Medical Need"
by Dr. BANDY X.LEE
https://open.substack.com/pub/bandyxlee/p/sentence-donald-trump-to-a-mandatory?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=280c3q
I love how the GOP is all about fiscal discipline, running the budget like a household's, cutting spending...except when they take power. And now the debt ceiling to be abolished. It's a Trump fantasy for himself. I have concluded he takes glee in doing in the country's power, prestige, and even pure functionality because otherwise it remains greater than him, and he can't have that. No entity can be superior to him. I also feel like he's going to sniff around for ways to literally direct Treasury funds to his accounts. Beyond the hotel income of yesteryear.
It’s all about the grift and the unquenchable thirst for money and power.
It is important to get the message out that shutting down the government costs money, it does not save money, not to mention causing a lot of chaos and hurt. Most people probably do not know this.
Messaging, messaging, messaging..
The same people, for example some of my fellow NCers, who had/have no clue that the tax funds Rs want to send to Charter schools depletes public school funding! Duh.
Vital messaging, indeed.
D's have to toss the rational-informed electorate model. It seems too many Dem leaders and spokespeople think the people just know all of this.
There was a viral Tweet of a woman voter sometime before Biden dropped out who wasn't going to vote for Biden because she thought he was responsible for overturning Roe v Wade since it happened during his presidency.
This is the example of the electorate Dems need to accept and deal with.
This message did get through in Kentucky, where a measure for school vouchers was soundly defeated, including in very conservative counties, because people got the point that it would weaken funding for public schools, which in some cases are the linchpin for small towns.
It would be a very opportune time to also point out that Elon Musk's current fortune (which is hugely derived from Tesla stock) was possible only because of the government spending (grants/loans) and subsidies that he now wants to end for everyone else.
Exactly! I just learned about that myself from listening to Dateline Whitehouse tonight.. during the Obama administration, Tesla was floundering and received a 3 billion dollar subsidy (if I remember correctly). And he’s so fond of saying DEI stands for Didn’t Earn it! They are masters of projection.
Yes. And almost all people who bought Model 3 Teslas did so at least in part because of the $7500 tax credit. I'm one of them.
It's noteworthy that Republicans could not have passed the bill without Democratic support. They didn't even get a majority vote, counting only
Republicans. Avoiding a shutdown is good, and I don't think
Trump comes out very well.
And yet the first agreed-upon bill included research for childhood cancer, getting rid of junk fees, eliminating the middlemen who jack up pharmaceutical prices, and reimbursing food stamp recipients for stolen cards. All because of some mucking about by a billionaire.
The Orange Man doesn’t like bring upstaged by “Pres. Musk” so expect a de-throning soon…. And to top it all off, Musk is verifying his own Nazi proclivities! Oh my! How will Orange Man handle all this ?!😳 Let’s hope cooler heads will prevail to keep the gov’t open at Christmastime ( do we want air traffic controllers on “no pay” at this busy travel time??) chaos has started sgain!
Still needs his big bucks to shove people around
That's it exactly.
Huge fan here but have stopped reading your posts since you have honestly decided we need to tolerate 4+ yrs of America losing our democracy and pledging fealty to a violent Putin-puppet instead of fighting back to stop it from taking place. With utmost respect I dissent. https://open.substack.com/pub/grassrootsofdemocracy/p/coping-instead-of-stopping-fascism?r=bcplj&utm_medium=ios
This is simply not true!
If you honestly believe Simon is calling for fealty to Trump, then you haven’t been paying attention.
If you are not reading Simon's posts then I am curious, why are you commenting? Also, Arctic Stones is correct. Your statement is simply false.
Spot on Simon. This is the way forward...call them out at every turn..and fight for our wins.
There was a lot to say about yesterday. I am no fan of Republicans but was impressed that 38 stood up to Trump-Musk, even after threats. I feel as if Senators rarely do this sort of thing, despite more power. I hope the Senate considers similar push back with these nominees.
Writing from a red state, we must en-courage those who do the right thing and the independent thing and act like grown ups even when we disagree on some details. No one is served by legislators taking orders from the president or the Freedom Caucus.
Great slogan from Dana Millbank in today's WaPo: "Government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, for the billionaires." The party of Lincoln has become the party of Musk, et al. Ds should keep hammering this theme over and over and over.
YES!!! This is exactly the message. We need to spend less time defending institutions and instead attack Trump-Elon for being the paradigm of exactly WHY government has not been working for the people.
And you didn’t even mention Judge Merchan denying Trump’s immunity claim!
Simon, great appearance on CNN this morning, including describing how T has created a huge mess that's bad for the country and squandered his honeymoon before even taking office. It's time for everyone to be loud about this reckless incompetence and his attempt to blame Biden for this and whatever he comes up with going forward. Also, need to not let T take credit for the positive results of Biden's huge legislative accomplishments: infrastructure, inflation and CHIPs acts which will bear fruit well into the future unless derailed by the incoming administration.
Jennifer Rubin column from November:
https://wapo.st/3DrHzkl
I appreciated the MeidasTouch interview with Biden. Such a decent person with unshakable faith in the American people. I waver, but we do need to believe in ourselves long-term.